The KPI Dictionary

3,200+

Key
Performance
Indicator
definitions

Volume 1: Functional Areas


2015
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e
KPI
Institute
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KPI
Dictionary
3,200+
Key Performance
Indicator
Definitions,
1: Functional
Areas, Melbourne,
The KPI Institute (2015), KPI Dictionary 3,200+
Key Performance
Indicator
Definitions,
VolumeVolume
1: Functional
Areas, Melbourne,
Australia
Australia

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The KPI Dictionary: 3,200+ KPI definitions

Volume 1: Functional Areas

Table of Contents
4

Introduction

About KPIs

KPIs Naturally

How to use this book

10

KPI Taxonomy

12
12
15
17
18
22
28

Accounting
Accounting Systems
Cash Management
Control
Cost Analysis
Planning and Reporting
Transactions / AP / AR

35
35
38
41
48

Corporate Services
Administration / Office Support
Corporate Travel
Facilities / Property Management
Legal Services

50

Corporate Social Responsibility

54
54
58
62
67
69

Finance
Asset/ Portfolio Management
Financial stability
Forecast & Valuation
Liquidity
Profitability

74
74
79
83

Governance, Compliance and Risk

Compliance and Audit Management
Governance
Risk Management

88
88
93
97
104
107
111
120
123

Human Resources
Compensation and Benefits
Efficiency and Effectiveness
Recruitment
Retention
Service Delivery
Talent Development
Workforce
Working Environment

127
127
136
138

HSSE (Health, Safety and Security)

Environment
Health
Safety and Security

143
143
150
153
156
160
168
173

Information Technology
Application Development
Data Center
Enterprise Architecture
IT - General
IT - Security
Network Management
Service Management

186
186
189
195

Knowledge and Innovation

Innovation
Knowledge Management
R&D

202

Management

206
206
209
219

Marketing and Communications

Advertising
Marketing
Public Relations

222
222
226
229
232
234
236

Online Presence- eCommerce

eCommerce
Email Marketing
Online Advertising
Online Publishing - Weblogs
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
Web Analytics

241
241
242
246

Portfolio and Project Management

Benefits Realization
Portfolio Management
Project Management

251
251
255
262

Production & Quality Management

Maintenance
Production
Quality Management

268
268
276

Sales and Customer Service

Customer Service
Sales

288
288
292
299
309
316

Supply Chain, Procurement, Distribution

Contract Management
Inventory Management
Logistics / Distribution
Procurement / Purchasing
Supply Chain Management

319

Related publications from The KPI Institute

320

Top 25 KPIs Reports

321

2013 - 2014 Top KPIs Reports

322

The KPI Institute Professional

Certification Programs

323

Certification Programs Infographic 2015

The KPI Dictionary: 3,200+ KPI definitions

Volume 1: Functional Areas

Introduction

ictionaries have been around for centuries and their main function is to provide conceptual or linguistic definitions, along
with information about the correct language usage. The earliest historical mention of a dictionary is from Babylon, in the 6th
century BC. The Chinese had their first written dictionary in 100 AD, while Japanese history mentions its first dictionary in the
7th century AD. In Europe, the earliest dictionaries didnt contain definitions of words. Instead, they were bilingual dictionaries,
meaning you could look up a French word and find its English equivalent, or vice versa.The first English alphabetical dictionary,
called A Table Alphabetical was published in London in 1604.
KPI Dictionary 3,200+ Key Performance Indicator Definitions, Volume 1: Functional Areas is a novelty in the field and
distinguishes itself from the classical structure of a dictionary in that it shows the performance indicators grouped into 16 main
functional areas, each having several subcategories. The dictionary not only defines the indicators, but also contains an explicit
presentation of the calculation formula.

The KPI Institute is the global authority on Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) research and education, providing through
its publications and training courses insights on how to measure and learn with KPIs. It developed the first KPI Management
Framework and operates several research programs dedicated to performance management, strategy, Balanced Scorecard and
key performance indicators. It operates smartKPIs.com, the result of the research program dedicated to documenting and
cataloguing how KPIs are used in practice. It is an online portal containing the largest collection of well documented KPI
examples, supported by a community of tens of thousands of members.
Over the last 10 years, The KPI Institute team has:
Documented 7,000+ KPIs with Premium Documentation from 16 functional areas and 25 industries;
Reviewed 1,000+ performance reports from 125 countries;
Referenced 30,000+ resources (books, articles, performance reports) as part of the documentation process;
Developed over 150 KPI Dashboards and Balanced Scorecards;
Delivered training courses in 25 countries on 6 continents;
Assisted over 28,000 organizations in finding solutions for their KPI needs;
Trained over 2,500 participants from 40 countries on how to work rigorously with KPIs.
The main activities of The KPI Institute include:
Research - contributing to the development of the performance management discipline by actively researching and publishing
articles on this matter. Driven by the belief that progress in management science emerges from practice, the research programs are
aimed at reviewing KPI and performance management examples, as used in various countries, functional areas and industries.
Publications - in order to facilitate the identification and usage of KPIs in practice, The KPI Institute has developed the Top
KPIs Reports collection, along with more extensive resources, like The KPI Compendium and KPI Dictionaries. Also, to help
organizations design or improve their performance management architecture, The KPI Institute offers the Toolkit series,
containing editable templates, customized for specific industries and functional areas. Interesting articles on topics related to
performance management are accessible to the public through Performance Magazine, in both the Online and Printed editions.
Education - In an effort to improve the ways in which KPIs are understood and employed in organizations worldwide, The
KPI Institute provides a broad set of education services. The training offer includes the Certified KPI Professional and Certified
KPI Practitioner, as well as specialized training courses, customized to specific functional areas, industries or performance
management related topics, like strategic planning and employee performance evaluation.
Along with its research and education projects, The KPI Institute is at the forefront of innovation in performance management,
integrating both the academic and practitioner perspectives. Analyzing emerging trends and best practices represents the
fundamentals of TKIs body of knowledge.
4

How to use this book

he KPI Dictionary is a useful tool in the process of understanding, selecting and working with KPIs. The book contains
definitions and calculation formulas for more than 3,200 KPIs covering 16 functional areas:

Accounting

Human Resources

Portfolio and Project Management

Corporate Services

Information Technology

Production & Quality Management

Corporate Social Responsibility

Knowledge and Innovation

Sales and Customer Service

Finance

Management

Supply Chain, Procurement,

Governance, Compliance and Risk

Marketing and Communications

Distribution

HSSE (Health, Safety and Security)

Online Presence- eCommerce

Professionals, practitioners, consultants, researchers, managers and academicians can have in their own library a rich database with
the most important elements of key performance indicators: definitions and formulas. They dont have to look anymore for them
through dozens of publications as The KPI Dictionary brings the most relevant information in one single book.
The KPI Dictionary is easy to use, as the KPIs are clustered on an industry basis and sorted in alphabetical order. Furthermore, each
indicator has an identification code (e.g. sK1) and three sections: Definition, Sub-metrics used for calculation and Calculation formula.

name

definition

% Cost of outsourced finance function

Each KPI name is preceded by a symbol.
There are three symbols used depending
on the KPIs measurement unit:
$ - value of: $ Operating costs
# - number of: # Projects approved
% - percentage of:
% Projects completed on time

Succinct description of the indicator,

providing more details in regards to
what the KPI is measuring.
It also supports a better
understanding of how to calculate
the KPI.

Measures the percentage of cost with outsourced finance

function from the overall finance function cost.
A = $ Cost of outsourced finance function
B = $ Finance function cost
(A/B)*100

% Cost of outsourced finance function

Measures the percentage of cost with outsourced finance
function from the overall finance function cost.
A = $ Cost of outsourced finance function
B = $ Finance function cost
(A/B)*100

sub-metrics

sK3387

% Cost of outsourced finance function

Metrics used in calculating the KPI.
In some cases, the KPI may not need
any other metrics for calculation
and this section will coincide with
the KPIs name

Measures the percentage of cost with outsourced finance

function from the overall finance function cost.
A = $ Cost of outsourced finance function
B = $ Finance function cost
(A/B)*100

sK3387

sK3387

calculation
formula

id code

Expresses the mathematical formula

to compute the KPI.
The calculation formula is expressed
in six different forms, depending on
the specifics of each KPI:
(A/B)* 100 - rate
A/B - ratio
(A1 + A2 ++An)/n - average
Index - aggregates more items in
one score
Survey - data is gathered through
a survey

Indicates the unique numerical

reference assigned to each KPI on
smartKPIs.com. This code can be used
to search more details about the KPI on
http://www.smartkpis.com/kpi/browse-kpis/

% Cost of outsourced finance function

Measures the percentage of cost with outsourced finance
function from the overall finance function cost.
A = $ Cost of outsourced finance function
B = $ Finance function cost
(A/B)*100

sK3387

% Cost of outsourced finance function

Measures the percentage of cost with outsourced finance
function from the overall finance function cost.
A = $ Cost of outsourced finance function
B = $ Finance function cost
(A/B)*100

sK3387

The KPI Dictionary can be used in the early stages of implementing a performance management framework, in the process of
selecting and documenting KPIs, but also to improve an existing performance measurement system. The ways in which one could
get the best out of this Dictionary are extremely diverse so we invite you to discover them on your own.

Be a part of the KPIs world!

The KPI Dictionary: 3,200+ KPI definitions

Volume 1: Functional Areas

KPI Taxonomy

his section lists the categories and subcategories of the KPI taxonomy used for structuring the content of this volume.
The numbers in front represent how many KPI examples are available in this volume in each category/subcategory.

Number of KPI examples

135
24
25
73
13

224
27
19
10
41
57
70

135
24
25
73
13

43

Corporate Services
Administration / Office Support
Corporate Travel
Facilities / Property Management
Legal Services
p.35

135
24
25
73
13

Corporate Services
Administration / Office Support
Corporate Travel
Facilities / Property Management
Legal Services
p.35

Accounting
Accounting System
Cash Management
Control
Cost Analysis
Planning and Reporting
Transactions / Accounts Payable / Accounts Receivable

p.12

Category page number

135
24
25
73
13

Corporate Services
Administration / Office Support
Corporate Travel
Facilities / Property Management
Legal Services
p.35

Human Resources

380
48
37
73
27
34
90
41
30

Compensation and benefits

Efficiency and Effectiveness
Recruitment
Retention
Service Delivery
Talent development
Working environment
Workforce

170
94
20
56

Environment
Health
Safety and Security

477
84
27
26
40
90
57
153

Application Development
Data Center
Enterprise Architecture
IT - General
IT - Security
Network Management
Service Management

132
36
66
78

Innovation
Knowledge Management
R&D

p.88

Corporate Services
Administration / Office Support
Corporate Travel
Facilities / Property Management
Legal Services

Corporate Social Responsibility

p.35

Asset/Portfolio management
Financial stability
Forecast & Valuation
Liquidity
Profitability

132
48
37
47

Compliance and Audit Management

Governance
Risk Management

HSSE (Health, Safety and Security)

p.127

p.50

Finance

224
45
34
53
17
49

10

Category / subcategory

Information Technology

p.143

p.54

Governance, Compliance and Risk

p.74

Knowledge and Innovation

p.186

45

Management

174
31
113
30

Advertising
Marketing
Public Relations

Marketing and Communications

p.206

Online Presence- eCommerce

185
42
23
33
18
15
54

E-commerce
E-mail marketing
Online-advertising
Online-publishing-weblogs
Search engine optimization
Web analytics

174
5
45
44

Benefits realization
Portfolio management
Project management

182
36
80
66

Maintenance
Production
Quality Management

p.222

Portfolio and Project Management

p.241

Production & Quality Management

230 Sales and Customer Service

90 Customer Service
140 Sales

365
42
80
124
86
33

p.202

p.251

p.268

Supply Chain, Procurement, Distribution

Contract management
Inventory management
Logistics / distribution
Procurement / purchasing
Supply chain management

p.288
The KPI Dictionary: 3,200+ KPI definitions

Volume 1: Functional Areas

11

Accounting

Accounting Systems

ccounting is the area concerned with producing financial reports used by active reporting entities to convey activity results
to a variety of end users, such as creditors and investors.While preparing such reports, management benefits from access
to detailed information regarding the entitys financial performance. Accounting KPIs refer to specific monetary measures of
stocks and flows and address the efficiency of operation management, systems and control.
Accounting systems are often complex and need constant update to ensure maximum functionality. A precise monitoring
process and a thorough analysis of their usage can be achieved through smart KPIs

% Accounting system downtime

% Employees allocated to

Measures the proportion of time the accounting system is accounts payable and expense reimbursement
Measures the percentage of employees that are working
not available to perform its functions, during working time
on processes related to accounts payable and expense
(from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.).
reimbursement, out of the total number of employees.
A = # Hours the accounting system is not available
A = # Employees allocated to accounts payable and expense
B = # Hours while the accounting system is expected to be
reimbursement
available to perform its functions
B = # Employees
(A/B)*100
sK3401
(A/B)*100
sK3344

% Accuracy of expense reimbursement requests

Measures the percentage of expense reimbursement % Employees allocated to

requests with no errors, out of the total number of expense evaluate and manage financial performance
reimbursement requests submitted.
Measures the percentage of employees that are working on
evaluating and managing financial performance, out of the
A = # Expense reimbursement requests with no errors
total number of employees.
B = # Expense reimbursement requests
A = # Employees allocated to evaluate and manage financial
(A/B)*100
sK3189
performance
B = # Employees

% Cost of outsourced finance function

(A/B)*100
sK3347
Measures the percentage of cost with outsourced finance
function from the overall finance function cost.
% Employees allocated to fixed asset management
Measures the percentage of employees working on fixed
A = $ Cost of outsourced finance function
assets management, out of the total number of employees.
B = $ Finance function cost
Fixed asset management includes tracking fixed assets for
financial accounting, preventive maintenance and even theft
(A/B)*100
sK3387
discouragement.

% Customer invoices paid

through electronic sourcing
Measures how many of the invoices are paid through
electronic sources by the companys customers.
A = # Invoices paid electronically by customers
B = # Invoices paid
(A/B)*100

A = # Employees allocated to fixed asset management

B = # Employees
(A/B)*100

sK3349

% Employees allocated to
general accounting and reporting
sK2959

% Electronic invoices

Measures the percentage of employees working on general

accounting and financial reporting, out of the total number
of employees.

Measures the proportion of invoices issued in electronic format.

A = # Employees allocated to general accounting and reporting
B = # Employees

A = # Electronically issued invoices

B = # Issued invoices
(A/B)*100
12

sK3340

(A/B)*100

sK3350

The KPI Institute is the global authority on Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) research and education,
providing through its publications and training courses insights on how to measure and learn with KPIs.
It developed the first KPI Management Framework and operates several research programs dedicated to
performance management, strategy, Balanced Scorecard and Key Performance Indicators. It also operates
smartKPIs.com, the result of the research program dedicated to documenting and cataloguing how KPIs are
used in practice, an online portal containing the largest collection of well documented KPI examples, with
over 20,500 examples from 16 Functional Areas and 25 Industries. Over the last 11 years, The KPI Institute
has assisted over 28,000 organizations in finding solutions to their KPI needs.
KPI Dictionary 3,200+ Key Performance Indicator Definitions, Volume 1: Functional Areas is a novelty
in the field and distinguishes itself from the classical structure of a dictionary in that it shows the performance
indicators grouped into 16 main functional areas, each having several subcategories. The dictionary not only
defines the indicators, but also contains an explicit presentation of the calculation formula.

Contains over 20,500 KPIs examples, including the ones covered in the KPI Dictionary. Specific KPI
examples listed in the Dictionary can be searched by using the sk number. Alternatively, visitors can browse,
save and export documented examples.
Top 25 KPIs Reports by Functional Area

Top 25 KPIs Reports by Industry

The KPI Institute offers a variety of in-depth publications that enable

you to keep up to date with industry trends and leaders. Through its
publications, it provides an overview of the performance management state
of discipline and offers innovative tools, facilitating the implementation
of performance management and measurement systems.